Related Stories

Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones guaranteed Canada a podium finish for the sixth year in a row at the women's world curling championship in Sapporo, Japan.

The only question left to answer was whether Jones would win Canada's first gold medal at the event since 2008, when she turned the trick in Vernon, B.C., or settle for silver.

Canada is scheduled to play Switzerland's Alina Paetz for the third time this week in Sunday morning's championship game, which starts at 2 a.m. EDT.

“Finals are great. That’s what you play a sport for, those adrenalin rushes that go with a final,” Jones told the World Curling Federation after her 7-4 semifinal win over Russia's Anna Sidorova. “What I love about our team is that we never give up. We came out here, and showed grit and determination. I’m so proud to play with these girls.”

Jones would have been hoping the third time was the charm against Paetz, because the Swiss skip had already beaten her twice this week. Switzerland prevailed 7-6 in their round robin meeting and then 6-4 in Friday night's 1-2 Page playoff game. Paetz had Jones' number going into the final, but it's always tough to beat a team three times in a row.

“It comes down to execution,” Jones said in the press release. “I had two shots for two in that (1-2) game and missed them, and you can’t afford to do that in a gold-medal game. We have to put some pressure on them, make some really key draws and try to make their shots hard.

“If we do that, and leave it all on the ice, hopefully we’ll have a shot at the win, but at least we won’t have any regrets.”

Jones, along with third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn McEwen, wasted little time in jumping on the Russians, grabbing two points in the first end thanks to a Jones double takeout.

It was one of four double takeouts Jones made during the semifinal, and it gave the team plenty of confidence going into the final against Paetz, who was trying to become the third Swiss skip in four years to capture gold at the world championship.

“It’s sweet to see. It’s awesome to sweep those and awesome to see those rocks go out of the ice,” Officer said in the release. “We had some lunch (after the 1-2 playoff loss), had a rest, and then we all came out firing. And obviously, she was here to play today, which was awesome. We came out on a mission, and we had to to build some confidence as a team to go into the (final).”

Canada took a 3-0 lead on Russia in the second end when Sidorova's runback double takeout attempt jammed. Russia had to settle for one in the third, but Canada responded with a deuce in the fourth and took total control with a 5-1 lead.

“Honestly, the biggest shot of the game was probably the double in the first end because we hadn’t scored a two in the (1-2) game, and we were chasing a little bit in the first end, and we found a way to get our deuce,” Jones said. “That changed the whole tone of that game. The girls played awesome.

“I could see we were going to come out fighting in this game. We were determined, and we wanted the opportunity to play in that gold-medal game. We showed spark and fire, perseverance and desire.”

Russia was scheduled to meet Scotland's Eve Muirhead in Saturday night's bronze medal game. It was a rematch of the 3-4 Page playoff game that Russia won 7-2.

Jones, who is the reigning Olympic gold medallist, won gold only once in her four previous world championship appearances. She snagged a bronze medal in 2010, so she was at least guaranteed a third trip to the podium no matter what happened against Paetz.

Lawes joined the team in the fall of 2010, so she was still in search of her first gold medal at the world championship.